By Gillian Graham

Staff Writer

As the word guilty echoed four times throughout the courtroom, Winston George’s family embraced each other, tears streaming down their faces. 

“These are tears of joy that my brother can rest in peace,” said Whitfield George minutes after his sister-in-law and her brother were found guilty of murdering Winston George two years ago in Old Orchard Beach.

Whitfield George, one of Winston George’s four siblings, sat through two weeks of testimony about a murder scheme prosecutors said was complex but doomed to fail from the start. 

Darlene George and Jeffrey Williams showed no reaction as the jury foreman read the verdict following nearly five hours of deliberations Friday. Each was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. 

During nine days of testimony at York County Superior Court, jurors and Justice G. Arthur Brennan listened to prosecutors lay out a case they said was fueled by greed. Darlene and Winston George each were having affairs and the marriage was failing, said Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese. Prosecutors said Darlene George did not want to lose property in a divorce.

“The motive here is greed. It’s pure and simple greed,” Marchese said.

Darlene George called 911 around 5:45 a.m. June 20, 2008, to report she and her 13-year-old son had been tied up by masked intruders in their Smithwheel Road house. The men, speaking in fake Jamaican accents, demanded drugs and money and fought with her husband when he returned home from work, she told police.

Old Orchard Beach police officers found Winston George dead in his basement, hog-tied with a yellow rope and plastic bag tied over his head. A small hole had been cut in the bag and a rum bottle shoved in his mouth. 

In the days to follow, investigators followed a trail of evidence to Darlene George’s brother, Jeffrey Williams, and her longtime lover, Rennie Cassimy. Marchese and Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea said Darlene George was the mastermind behind a plan to kill Winston George in a staged home invasion. 

Cell phone records showed calls between Darlene George, Cassimy and Williams intensified in the weeks leading up to the murder. There were 725 calls between Darlene George and Cassimy in May and June 2008. 

Cassimy, who testified as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, said he, Darlene George and Williams plotted the murder during a meeting in front of the Brooklyn apartment where he lived. Cassimy pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and will be deported to his native Trinidad following his prison sentence. 

Cassimy said his role in the murder was simply to be present in case Williams needed assistance. He said Williams attacked Winston George after he came home from work, cutting his face with a knife and looping rope around him before dragging him to the basement. 

“My specific role was just to be there because she had nobody else to trust to go there,” Cassimy testified.

Williams took the stand in his own defense to refute Cassimy’s account of what happened on June 19 and June 20, 2008. He said he traveled by bus to Maine with Cassimy to visit his sister, not to commit murder. Surveillance video shows the two men arriving by bus and leaving the following day.

Williams said he stayed in an Old Orchard Beach motel room while Cassimy went out. He acknowledged eating dinner at the Captain’s Galley restaurant and taking a taxi from there to the bus station the next morning.

Winston George’s car was found in the parking lot of the restaurant following the murder, a bloody key still in the ignition.

Williams said he left Maine after 16-and-a-half hours because he was “agitated” his sister left him in a motel room instead of bringing him to her house. He said he only saw his sister when she picked him and Cassimy up from the Portland bus station, bought them beer at a convenience store and dropped them at the motel. 

Williams said he left Maine without calling his sister because he didn’t want to fight with her. He also said he confronted Cassimy in New York after he heard about the murder because he thought Cassimy might be involved. 

Paul Aronson, a defense attorney for Darlene George, said she did not know Williams and Cassimy were in Maine and did not pick them up from the bus station. He said she spent the evening running errands with her son, Giovanni Whiteman, who was scheduled to leave for New York the following day. 

Darlene George did not testify.

Aronson said Darlene George is a “very generous and giving person” who had no motive to kill her husband. There is no equity in the five properties they owned and there was no evidence a divorce was imminent, he said. 

Aronson and Joel Vincent, defense attorney for Williams, both attempted to cast doubt on Cassimy’s testimony. Aronson called his plea arrangement with prosecutors a “sweetheart deal” and said Darlene George was his meal ticket. Vincent suggested Cassimy crafted his version of events using evidence provided to his attorneys. 

“He knew what he needed to say to seal this deal, a deal so good he said his attorney is the best in the state,” Vincent said.

Vincent said evidence – including three knives and Giovanni Whiteman’s description of seeing three shadows – suggested there were three intruders in the home that night. The state also should have tested all three knives for “critical” DNA evidence instead of one, he told the jury. 

During closing statements, Marchese said journals written by Darlene George showed her marriage was unraveling as she continued an affair of more than a dozen years with Cassimy and Winston George developed a romantic relationship with a coworker. She said Winston George was “a hardworking man who fell out of love with his wife.”

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and Darlene George is not a woman to cross,” she said. 

Marchese said Darlene George was the mastermind and Williams the enforcer behind an elaborate plan to kill Winston George during a staged home invasion. Darlene George did not anticipate her son would try to fight back, want to help his “Pop” as Winston George begged to see his family and try to untie himself to call for help, she said. 

Darlene George also made a “huge mistake” by reporting a mink coat had been stolen before she had the opportunity to look around the house, Marchese said. Darlene George and her son were taken to the Old Orchard Beach Police Department immediately after leaving the bedroom with directions from police. Prosecutors said Darlene George planned in advance to tell police intruders took jewelry, a laptop computer and the coat.

Marchese said evidence showed Williams was not the innocent bystander he claimed to be.

“Jeffrey Williams’ story simply doesn’t hold water,” she said. “There is no question Jeffrey Williams came to Maine with the intention of killing Winston George and that’s what he did.”

Marchese said Winston George “never stood a chance” when he was attacked by Williams shortly after he got home from work. She described how Winston George followed his usual routine: getting the mail, taking off his work boots, putting a stop in a sliding glass door. 

As Winston George struggled with Williams in the hallway, he asked where his family was and said a prayer. 

“His prayers were answered by Jeffrey Williams’ kick to his face and head,” Marchese said. 

Following the verdict, Marchese said the jury “worked hard and understood a complex case.” She said it was “horrible” to see Darlene George use her son as a pawn in the murder scheme and described Williams as “very cold-blooded.”

Marchese said she will ask that Darlene George and Williams receive “significant sentences.” Murder convictions carry a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. The sentencing hearing has not been scheduled. 

Outside the courthouse, Winston George’s family stood with their arms wrapped around each other as they described their brother and uncle. 

Anna Peters, Winston George’s niece, testified during the trial she was close to her uncle, who she saw several times a year in Maine and New York. She said he loved his house and took pride in the work he did to fix it up, including installing new wood floors. 

Whitfield George, Winston George’s older brother, said he sat through the trial to see justice was done for his brother. Winston George would have turned 48 on the sixth day of the trial, “a day we should have been celebrating him,” he said. 

Whitfield George said he has forgiven Cassimy for his role in the murder. He said Cassimy “probably got stuck between two walls and couldn’t move.”

“He did some good for us by speaking the truth. Where we come from (Trinidad), the culture we have, our parents teach us always speak the truth,” he said. 

Whitfield said Darlene George is greedy and selfish and should spent the rest of her life in prison where she will “see bars around her everyday.”

Whitfield George said the entire family will return to Maine from New York for the sentencing. In the meantime, he said he will tell his 90-year-old mother the journey for justice for her youngest son is over.

“A weight has just come off our shoulders,” he said.  “Our family is at peace.”

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.